This is a product review of the RecTeq 340 pellet smoker. You might be wondering to yourself why someone like me, who loves boondocking, would buy such a thing and try to write it off on my taxes by penning a review of it. But this is a serious review, believe it or not.

RV Boondocking with a pellet smoker

Disadvantages of a pellet smoker for RVers

Boondocking and RV camping with a pellet smoker like the RecTeq 340 offers both advantages and disadvantages over other forms of cooking.

One of the first disadvantages of a pellet smoker is that they require you to have household power. But this is an easy hurdle to cross in a lot of ways nowadays.

We have a household outlet on the side of our 2023 Rockwood Mini Lite 2205s thanks to the Power Package from ABC Upfitters. Using the inverter on the trailer we can power this smoker for days.

We can also use our UGreen Power Roam 1200 to power the smoker which is how we have been using it even at home. You know we have to thoroughly test all this stuff!

Another disadvantage is toting and storing the pellet smoker is, well, toting and storing the thing. Further, you’re going to have to bring along the pellets as well.

Advantages of a pellet smoker for RVers

One of the biggest advantages of bringing along a pellet smoker is the fact that you can simply set it and you’re cooking. Most pellet smokers have some provision to set them to specific temperatures and then the brains in the device take over from there. Sort of.

The nice thing is you don’t have to bring along and fight with lighter fluid, messy briquettes or any of the things associated with charcoal or wood fired cooking methods. Further, if it’s windy, the pellet smoker doesn’t care. It just keeps going because the cooking is enclosed.

Compared with propane grills the pellet smoker offers more different types of cooking. You can smoke foods, you can bake, you can grill. A pellet smoker is a pretty versatile thing. Further, I bought a searing kit (essentially two large, flat pieces of metal) which allows me to sear steaks or other things.

I’ve cooked bacon on the pellet smoker and it works quite well. But I’ve also cooked ribs, pork butt, hamburgers and more. I love this thing. A lot.

Is RecTeq worth the money?

Specifically the reason I went with this pellet smoker over others is the company’s reputation along with the configuration of this unit.

The RecTeq 340 offers a PID control system that provides fairly uniform performance. There are two temperature probes in this unit so you can either monitor multiple foods or use them both in a larger cut of meat.

The legs on this smoker fold up so now you can simply grab the handle and drag it along easily. The wheels are the high-end rollerblade style of wheels.

You can use the unit with the legs up such as on the tailgate of a pickup truck or you can easily put the legs down and use it as a stand-up grill.

The hopper can store up to 20 hours of pellets so an overnight smoke is no issue, other than keeping the bear and coyotes away. They like good barbecue too, you know.

I also like the build quality of this unit. Nothing feels cheap or second-rate. The materials used for the main body are all stainless steel and have proven to clean-up rather well.

The various parts that can become dirty also come out and are easily cleaned. I’m pretty pleased with how well this unit cleans up. Further, even the internal parts feel well made.

There is an app where you can control the unit and that app features recipes and cooking recommendations based on what you’re preparing. That has made it easier, but I have to goof around with my own recipes and ideas. Of course!

How a pellet smoker works

Pellet smokers essentially work by igniting wood pellets in a smoke box. The pellets are poured into a hopper and an auger slowly brings them into the firebox where an ignitor lights them up and a fan provides air flow.

Those pieces are why a pellet smoker needs electricity to operate, along with the computer brain bit.

Pellet smokers use natural hardwood pellets compressed from sawdust. I’ve seen pecan, apple, mesquite and a lot of blends. One of the best buys that I’ve come across are the blended pellets from Costco which are about the same price as everywhere else, but you get half again more pellets.

There are varying degrees of technology at work here but our own RecTeq has a digital control panel that lets us set the desired temperature in five degree increments. There are also two probes we can plug in that measure the internal temperature of whatever’s being cooked.

There’s an app for that

Through either just watching the display on the smoker or through an app that ties to the grill we can monitor the varying factors at work.

For example I recently smoked a pork butt and I was monitoring the internal temperature with the probes. The app let me set-up a notification so that I would get an alert on my phone when the meat had reached the temperature desired. Slick.

But there is also a temperature probe for the temps in the grill. This is great if you’re baking or just want to set an ambient temperature for whatever you’re cooking.

The app will also let you adjust the temperature inside the smoker so you could start at one temp and then use the app to adjust the temperature over time. Further, there are suggestions for temperatures based on what you’re smoking.

The smoker itself along with the accompanying app let you do much of what you need to do to get really great results. You can achieve great results with little work but you can achieve incredible results with a bit of work. Flexibility and options are the order of the day.

Lazy cooking?

With all the controls available on the smoker along with on the app I’ve heard that there are some who criticize this method of cooking as being too automatic. But it doesn’t have to be.

I bought a spray bottle and filled it with beer and pineapple juice. When I smoked ribs I went every half an hour and gave them a spritzing to keep them super moist. I did much the same with the pork butt.

You can alter temperature, put on glazes, add flavoring in various ways and be as involved as you’d like. The results will reflect what you did. So, yes, this can be a very easy way to cook. But it can also reflect your passion for how you want things to come out.

Some tips for pellet grills

There are no end to the number of tips you can get with any method of cooking. Some of the things I’ve done include:

• The spray bottle full of beer and pineapple juice to keep things moist and a bit more flavorful during the smoke.

• Finding a terrific local butcher so you can get the cuts of meat you actually want. For example, I get tri tip with the fat still on it and use that fat cap to ensure moisture.

• I rubbed a pork butt with honey from bees that sipped the pollen from green Chile flowers and then rubbed the pork butt with roasted green Chile powder. It worked marvelously.

• I let the meat speak for itself and offer diners various sauces, but at their own discretion. Great barbecue doesn’t need sauce, to me, but great barbecue sauce is a wonderful addition.